Providing information, education, and training to build knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes that will lead to increased independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion (IPSII) for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

Baghdad School Survives In Spite Of Saddam And U.S.
Occupation
January 13, 2005

BAGHDAD, IRAQ--In times of war, the
term "hero" is easy to overuse.

But I just read about a group of heroes -- parents, teachers and many
others -- who are struggling every day for dozens of children with Down
syndrome at Hibato-Allah Centre, a school in downtown Baghdad.

Tuesday's Guardian featured a story about the school which Sahira
Abdul-Latif Mansour started at her home in 1993. Mansour wanted to have a place
for her daughter, Hiba, to be welcomed and to learn, but she found both
mainstream schools and programs designed for children with disabilities
unsatisfactory.

Mansour and her husband have kept the school going, with 31 teachers, in
spite of a lack of government support. In fact, after her husband gave a
television interview a few years ago telling viewers the government should help
the children, Saddam Hussein's intelligence officers visited to let him know
the dictator did not appreciate such statements.

Since the American occupation began, the school has received little
financial support except for money from some families and a grant from a
Japanese foundation which was spent on furniture, air conditioners and a
generator. The city only supplies electricity for about two hours each day.

The war brings new dangers to the school, the teachers and the students
every day. After hearing bomb blasts, parents often call the school to make
sure their children are safe.

One of the Japanese workers who came to present the foundation grant
money was later killed in a roadside shooting outside Baghdad.

The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center,the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.